Live Wire

Ken Jeong,a doctor-turned-comedian-turned-actor,appeared in The Hangover for only a couple of hundred seconds,but his riotous performance as the manic,dangerous Leslie Chow sparked the blockbuster comedy and brought him international fame,and a far larger presence in the upcoming sequel,The Hangover,Part IIset for release on May 26,as well as roles in two other summer films,Zookeeper and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I can do the acting full-time,which is amazing. It was only a few years ago that I was working as a physician full-time. So to be able to do it full-time,and on this level,you just know that its a rare opportunity,the rarest that any actor can have, he said.

Oprah Winfreys choice of self-help favourite A New Earth in 2008 led to around 3.4 million copies sold. In second was James Freys A Million Little Pieces,with just under 2.7 million copies. Elie Wiesels memoir Night was third,at about 2 million,according to Nielsen BookScan which tracks around 75 per cent of non-e-book sales. The list is not comprehensive,including just 27 of Winfreys 65 picks,accounting for more than 22 million books sold. She ends her long-running talk show on May 25. We will certainly miss her from a business point of view,but also because of how she got people talking about books. I think a lot more reading groups started because of her, said Susan Petersen Kennedy,president of Penguin Group USA.

Julia Leigh,Australian novelist and debut directors film Sleeping Beauty is competing for Palme d or the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. Sleeping Beauty is a quietly terrifying fairy tale that has raised goosebumps and some hackles. In the film, the lead character,Lucy,played by a palely exquisite Emily Browning,is a student who spends drugged nights in a vast mansion for the pleasure of rich old menand for money. She lays on a wide bed that appears suspended in space and time. Leigh called this setting the Sleeping Beauty Chamber. Leigh,41,was also inspired by tales of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Yasunari Kawabata,told from the point of view of older men who slept with drugged very young girls.